Popularity helps cut pool cost for council

Tauranga's five council-owned swimming pools are expected to cost ratepayers $1.45 million for the financial year starting July 1.
This is a saving of nearly $160,000 on what the council has budgeted to lose on its pools this year.
The last actual figures were for the 2007-08 year when council budgeted a ratepayer subsidy of $1.5 million on swimming pools but ended up losing $1.2 million.
The $300,000 improvement was largely due to revenue being well above expectations, mostly because of the popularity of the Baywave Aquatic and Leisure Centre to swimmers and health-club users. Learn-to-swim classes were also more popular.
Based on 2007-08's financial performance, the $1.6 million rates-funded deficit budgeted for the current 2008-09 year was also expected to be an over-estimate. Costs to operate the five pools, budgeted at nearly $1.9 million for the current year, drop to just $780,000 in 2009-10's budget.
Council's pools are operated by LeisureCo NZ under the management of council-owned company Tauranga City Aquatics, which is into its third full year of trading.
The council's network of community pools used to be virtually self-funding from surpluses earned by the Mount Hot Pools, until the $16.1 million Baywave complex opened three years ago.
The council's network of community pools has been substantially upgraded in recent years, with Otumoetai Pool's changing sheds and office the next in line for modernising.
The Mount Hot Pools are the most expensive of the five pools to maintain. Reconfiguring the plant room cost $160,000 last year.
A plan to spend $9 million redeveloping the Hot Pools and building a new health and wellness centre will be one of the major issues for the council during its first round of meetings this year, starting next Tuesday.